"Susan"
asks

.... we have had cats for
years, but never 2 until last year when we adopted a year old female, part
Russian Blue....she was lonely and we got a
4 month old male a couple of months later. He was very dominant right off
the bat and ambushed her constantly....We also have 2 Labrador
Retrievers...the female cat
disappeared about 2 months ago. Morris is about a year old now and he's
really lonely. We're going to adopt another, but I'm curious whether it's
better to have 2 cats of the same sex or doesn't it matter if they are
neutered to begin with.

That's a lot to digest, Susan. First, you must be aware that for every question
posted in this (or, probably, many newsgroups) you will get many answers..some
contradicting others. You must weed through the posts to determine what info
to accept and what to reject. Before you can do that, you must have some basic
info on cat/dog behavior - healthcare. Since you currently have several pets,
I hope you visit some dog/cat websites (and ask your vet questions along the
way) so you know what you're doing!

Why did a cat disappear under your care? You didn't say the cat was lost or
escaped from the house. From your post, it sounds extremely careless. If you
are ovewhelmed with your current lot of pets, don't adopt another. Currently,
there's a difference of opinion on whether it's acceptable or cruel to let a
cat roam outside. I strongly support keeping a pet inside - in the US, the
expert opinion is that it's best to keep to keep cats inside.

If, after all of this, you feel responsible enough to add another pet, I've
asked other pet owners, vets, newsgroups, websites. Following the advice, I
adopted an opposite sex cat. The match is shakey. Resident male cat attacks
new female cat. I hope you have good luck - with keeping your pets from
disappearing, at least.